Now They're Just Trying to Piss Me Off

It seriously is like we're not even trying anymore. Unless the trying that we are doing is the trying to make my head explode. It's as if we have no problem whatsoever with plastic on this planet. None. Like we aren't saying anything over here about the 5 Gyres, like Dr. Marcus Eriksen isn't out there beating a drum about it. (Don't know him? Here: http://www.marcuseriksen.com/ ) It's as if we've given up completely and just announced we'll go ahead and trash the planet instead of trying to move to being better stewards of this Earth, because there is really no going back.

What now, GGW? you say with a sigh. Just this:

I almost have nothing more to say. Almost. It's from our good friends over there at Nestle, of course. Because you know how much they care about the environment. Darn it, I can't even eat one of my favorite candy bars anymore because it's made by Them. But I digress.

3 fluid ounces so as to be attractive to frequent flyers, I suppose. Easy to just toss in your purse or laptop bag. Convenient.

Look, I don't care that you are tossing it in the recycling bin. That means nothing. Nothing. The water of this planet is filled with plastic. Islands where man has never set foot are found to be covered with plastic. Birds who live their lives at sea are found with stomachs full of plastic. When is it enough? When do we get a clue? When do we get the hint? When do we stop?

Obviously  not anytime soon, because every day all I see are more new stupid products like this one coming out for purchase. We do not need these things. We need a healthy environment. The two are not compatible.

Just. Stop.

"That's all well and good, but..."

"Trader Joe’s 10 Instant Coffee Packets All Dressed up with Creamer & Sugar were crafted to quell the coffee conundrum, not just for our buyers, but for all who face it. Discovered while traveling in Korea by a buyer in desperate need of a quick, quality caffeine fix, these portable packets promise a consistent cup of delicious coffee with a careful balance of creamer and cane sugar sweetener. That’s right; the coffee, cream and sugar are combined in the same packet. All you need is a drinking vessel and some hot water – simple, elegant, reliable."
That's GREAT when you are traveling in far away and distant lands where a cuppa joe might be hard to come by, in a serious pinch, in desperate times.

We still seem to be rushing down the wrong path. I really want to see us turn around. I DON'T see it turning around, but I wish it would. But I never seem to run out of things to say here. I'd call it job security, but, well... I don't actually get paid for this.

Yeah. Who's kidding who? Whom? Whatever. People aren't picking up this product for their trip to Borneo. For climbing the Alps. For super-coffee-emergencies. People are buying this to use in their homes, and of course that is perfectly fine by TJ's. That's what they made it for - to sell it.

Why does anyone *need* this product at home on any random day? Just can't get up the energy to actually collect the jar of instant and the sugar and the creamer on a daily basis? I can see how that can get tiresome.

By all means, buy this product for that "coffee conundrum" that you ran into in your own kitchen. Those happen far too frequently. It's a real problem. Solve it with plastic packaging! Quick! Hurry!

Viva la Via

It was doomed from the start.

Starbucks... now, I love me some Starbucks, I really do, lots of people take issue with them, but I worked there in NYC and pretty much had a good experience and they do a lot of philanthropic things and treat their employees decently and damn I love the coffee. (Which may explain that run-on sentence after a few cups this morning.)

But Starbucks came out with Instant Coffee. Do I hate instant coffee? No. I don't drink a lot of it but I have nothing really against it. Hell, I've added instant coffee to my coffee. Yeah I'm just that hooked. What I hate is that they felt the need to put their instant coffee in single serve convenient packs. Of plastic something material. So it's convenient.

With that in mind, I would never have purchased Via to try on my own. But they put a sample on their pound-bags of coffee, so that we may be hooked by its convenience. So I gave it a try, as it came on the pound-bag of coffee we bought for our French press. It's the fair thing to do.

Back to the first statement, though... it was doomed from the start. I must have had it in for myself. I spilled a little of the coffee while opening the packet. The teapot splorged boiling water everywhere when I poured it into the cup. The agave syrup splooshed everywhere and gave me the stickies the rest of the day because it got everywhere around my mug before I realized it. I splashed the coffee out just stirring it. (This was after I DID have coffee previously, so we can't blame it on that.)

While that may have had an effect on my experience, I'll attempt to be objective. Was it delicious? Sure. It was. Better than most other instants? Probably. Is it worth it? Absolutely not. Do we need pre-packaged little bits of instant coffee in ours lives? Nope. These are no better than those stupid plastic pods of coffee that are STILL all the rage (and still causing me rage).

This is definitely a to-avoid product.

Now, if you don't mind, my French press awaits...

Let's End Where We Began

Call me crazy, but I don't think we really need to buy chilled coffee drinks from our grocer's dairy section. It's just more plastic.

Europe has a grab-it-shake-it-drink-it product by Emmi. It's a chilled espresso drink made with quality ingredients, and it looks really tasty, but it comes in this useless plastic cup with a plastic lid! Maybe in Europe, they are better at recycling. Maybe they are better at not littering. I don't know. All I know is I don't really want these drinks to catch on. Again, they look wonderfully delicious, but I know us here. We don't need it, we really don't. In this disposable society of ours, it's just another drink-it-don't-think-it product. (wow, I'm having fun with dashes today!) We already have pudding and Jell-O in super little plastic cups, because they are CONVENIENT and we cannot be bothered to make it the OLD way (that might take, oh, 1/2 an hour!!!! Holy crap, who has that kind of time????), so I think adding another plastic throw-away to the yogurt/pudding/Jell-O/fruit cups isn't exactly what we need here.

So... briefly... I'll round out my week with another coffee kvetch. Stay away from this product, and maybe it will go away sooner rather than later.

A New Coffee Low - Timing is Everything

My rant on coffee pods yesterday was apparently just a warm-up. I never imagined that another coffee horror was waiting for me today in Treehugger.

I can't even comment. I'll let you look for yourself: http://smartcup.wordpress.com/

No, no, no, no, NO!!!! WHAT are we doing???

Sigh. Last post, I said make loud comments around people. With this one, I think we should feel free to actually walk up to someone and knock the cup right out of their hands and yell, "WHATTSAMATTAFAYOU????" right in their face.

No. I kid.

But we do have to stop this one before it gets hold. Thoughts?

Some waste with your coffee?

 The Good Green Witch is a major coffee-hound. Don't talk to me until I have had a few sips of my morning joe. I need coffee so badly in the mornings that sometimes I can't prepare my coffee til I've had coffee. I have very few vices; this is one I will keep, thank you.

Where there's coffee, there's frequently a plastic product to throw away. Lids on take-out coffee, stirrers, those little single-serve creamers... there's no shortage of something to throw away. I try to avoid those things. I make my coffee at home, in a French press. But the cool thing to do now is to have those super-awesome Keurig & Tassimo & Senseo machines that dispense one perfectly measured portioned cup of perfect coffee at a perfect time. Mmmm. You don't even have to open the little cup! You don't have to think about ANY part of it! Just press the button! How accessible! How convenient! (Oops, there THAT word) Have I used one of these before? Yes. Did I love it? Yes. Was it great coffee? Yes. Was it oh-so-cool? YES! Did I cringe at the waste??? Oh yes.

They make it really sneaky, too. They drop the little plastic cups with the perfectly measured portioned cup of coffee back into some little vat for future collection. You don't have to see your waste every time you brew. You can live safe in your false belief that this isn't that bad. But it is. It really is. How many millions of these little cups are going into waste every day? All the offices that use these... all the sets here in Hollywood... and now everyone at home... There is a staggering number of companies who makes these little pods. But hey. This is what "they" call progress. And free enterprise. And capitalism. I call it fodder for the Gyres. And a needless use of oil to make the plastic. Etc.

Setting aside the waste issue for a second... let's look at health. Isn't it supposed to be bad to heat things in plastic? But here we are shooting NEAR-BOILING water through these little plastic doohickeys. Is this how they work? I think so... Oh sure, it's only there for a second. But - but - but... are we thinking about implications over many many cups?? Why are we ignoring that? We are not supposed to drink water from a bottle that has been exposed to the heat of, say, your car for fear of toxins leeching into the water, but we can deal with it if it's in the coffee/tea/hot chocolate? Am I missing something, or am I just crazy? Is it me? Really. I'm serious. IS IT ME??

I'll stick to my stainless steel press. Sure it's a little hot to turn the top, but I can deal. It's thermal, so I even use my microwave less. It's sturdy, it won't break like my last glass one, it'll be around for quite some time. How about you? Next time you see these in the doctors' office (yep, seen 'em there), the auto repair place, the office... ask the people using it how they enjoy those toxins with their coffee. Or pretend you're on your phone and make some comment about how those little plastic thingies aren't getting recycled in any near reality. 

Forgive my grumpiness. I must not have had enough coffee yet today.